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<title>Shouting is better than silence; is hatred better than love? by kitkat1003</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27753454">Shouting is better than silence; is hatred better than love?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkat1003/pseuds/kitkat1003'>kitkat1003</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Animaniac Attack [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Animaniacs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Exploration of how abuse and neglect shape ones perceptions of love, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, anyway sorry not sorry for the angst, mentions of abuse, the author is projecting, these kids arent ok</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:01:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,109</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27753454</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkat1003/pseuds/kitkat1003</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Thaddeus Plotz locked them away for approximately 60 years, give or take a few escapes.  He used them, abused them, and did everything he could to keep them away from the world they wanted to be a part of.</p><p>Why on Earth would they want him back?</p><p>Or: Author watches the “The Warner Sibs become Movie Stars” special and thinks about the implications.  Yes I’m projection hush.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dot Warner &amp; Wakko Warner &amp; Yakko Warner</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Animaniac Attack [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030104</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>241</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Shouting is better than silence; is hatred better than love?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Listen I can't stop myself from thinking up things when watching the show.  Also follow me on tumblr @kitkat1003.  I post art there.  Mostly angst.  At least I'm consistent.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Being older than 60 and younger than 21 is an odd paradox that Yakko sometimes thinks about, when watching the world change.  Everything does, he thinks, save for them.  They don’t grow old, they don’t get remodeled, they don’t get taller or shorter, they just <b><em>are.</em></b></p><p><em>What <b>are</b> you</em>, everyone says, everyone asks.  <em>The Warner brothers, and the Warner sister,</em> they reply.</p><p>He thinks about their day to day.  The definition of insanity is going through the same motions while expecting a different outcome, he knows, but are they that?  Maybe they just love consistency, maybe that’s the role of a cartoon character, to repeat.</p><p>
  <em> <b> <strike>Consistent like getting chased, getting yelled at, getting locked up, getting ignored, thrown out, hit, screamed at, rejected, hated-</strike> </b> </em>
</p><p>It isn’t as though they don’t have lives off screen, but those memories are muted.  Dot has talked about it, how the only reason they can live so long is that their years are mostly remembered as a multitude of 30 minute segments (<em>or maybe a 90 minute movie, if they’re lucky</em>) but otherwise they don’t recall much from outside of filming unless they need to.</p><p>What does that mean for them, outside of the show?  Do they exist then?  Do they have purpose otherwise?</p><p>Neither of them know the answer.</p><p>The special was certainly interesting.  A departure from their regularly scheduled programming, a bit of intrigue.  Wakko would treasure the look on Plotz’s face when he realized he let an incredible script go, when they finally were the stars to prove the CEO wrong.</p><p>But then he’d gotten sacked.  Well deserved, some might say.  They might say.  Plotz isn’t a nice person.  He’s cruel, greedy, and entitled.  </p><p>They’d gotten what they wanted<em>-adoration, fame, money, freedom-</em>and he’s gotten what he deserved.</p><p>And yet.</p><p>It wasn’t that they didn’t like the life they were in.  They just didn’t know what that life was.  If they had a happy ending, how would they even be a character?  How can you exist when the screen fades to black for the final time?  Everyone likes the middle, the <em>conflict.</em>  The ending is never quite completely satisfying, not with a show like theirs.</p><p>It’s supposed to go on forever.  It can’t if they’re happy <em>and</em> satisfied, can it?</p><p>That’s their justification, the one they’re sticking with.  Who needs money anyway, when you don’t have to pay for rent or food?  Who needs adoration, when you’re already a hit cartoon?</p><p>It’s only when they’re getting read for bed, at 10 am after the New Years party, that they talk about it.  Wakko brings it up.</p><p>“It’s kind of weird that we spent all our money on him,” he says, crawling up to the top bunk.  They change it up depending on the day or week, what type of bed they’ll sleep in.  Why keep it normal?</p><p>“Hey, it’s kind of nice to have him back,” Yakko waves a hand, settling into the bottom bunk.</p><p>“Why?” Wakko asks, and Yakko opens his mouth to reply, but has no definitive answer.</p><p>They all settle in, but they aren’t tired, even after everything.  Wakko’s question hangs in the air, and they can’t help but ponder it.  Why <em>would </em>they want him back?</p><p>Dot remembers the conversation they had, before they went around fixing Plotz’s life-<em>like he should have fixed theirs, instead of tearing it to pieces and then locking them away</em>-and she remembers the reason.</p><p>
  <em>“I miss him yelling at us.”</em>
</p><p>The line makes her stomach turn.</p><p>“Is there something wrong with us?” She asks, turning towards the wall.</p><p>“Always, but uh, what do you mean this time?” Yakko is quick to respond.  She frowns, and sighs.</p><p>“We missed him,” She doesn’t have to clarify who.  “We missed him yelling at us.”</p><p>That should be wrong, shouldn’t it?  They shouldn’t miss hatred, shouldn’t miss derision.  Shouldn’t miss rejection.  And yet.</p><p>“He’s only ever liked us when he could use us for money,” Wakko adds.  “That’s the only reason he<em> wanted</em> to let us out at all,” There’s an edge of bitterness there, and Wakko is so rarely bitter that Yakko speaks up.</p><p>“Yeah, so?  Add him to the list of people who don’t like us,” He tries to make it sound funny, but the mood is too dark for it, and it sounds more depressing then anything else.</p><p>“But people <em>do</em> like us now,” Dot argues.  “We were hit movie stars.”</p><p>There’s silence, for a few beats.  The conversation could have ended there, with no resolution, but also no pain.  Just questions.</p><p>“Why’d we give it up for him?” Wakko finishes, and Yakko can’t find anything to say.</p><p>Because Plotz is different. Ralph, they’re pretty sure, doesn’t even know what he’s doing to them when he catches them. He’s just doing his job, and they almost appreciate him staying because if he got canned then Plotz might hire a <em>competent</em> security guard, and then where would they be? Scratchy <em>wasn’t there</em>, most of the Warner Studios staff is new, doesn’t know, doesn’t understand. But <em>Plotz</em> made the <em>executive</em> decision. Plotz threw them away, and told the world to throw away the key.</p><p>
  <em> <b>So why save him?</b> </em>
</p><p>But then, Dot speaks up once more.</p><p>“Don’t we <em>want</em> people to love us?” After all, when choosing hate versus love, wouldn’t you want the positive?  </p><p>It seems like an easy question to answer, but even the chattiest of the three can’t get the words out tonight.  Yes seems wrong, and so does No, so what are they supposed to say?</p><p>“What does that even <em>mean</em>, outside of <em>us?</em>” Wakko replies, because they don’t know.  They don’t know what it’s like for people outside of each other to love them, doesn’t know what that would mean, how that would work.</p><p>They love each other because they know each other, were made for each other, need and want each other around.  But no one else is like that.  They’ve never met a person they knew, needed, wanted.</p><p>But with Plotz, it seemed like they did.  Cause love is consistent, isn’t it?  Constant.  Always there.  That’s why they always are.  Together.</p><p>And Plotz is constant.  Constantly mean, constantly greedy, constantly cruel to them.  But constant.  And maybe that’s love.  Is it?</p><p>“Do you think we’ll ever find out?” There’s no answers to these questions.  No answers to the reason why a shout from someone seems more familiar than a hug, why dismissal is easier to stomach than acceptance.</p><p>So they go to bed, and pretend the answers don’t matter.  They have each other.  They love each other.  They don’t need anyone else.</p><p>Why would they ever?</p>
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